Tame: Carter Kids #3 (29 page)

Liars.

Fucking Judas bastards.

Betrayal was an understatement for how I was feeling right now.

Disgust didn't compare either.

I'd been a complete dick to Teagan. I'd been unfairly harsh on her. I'd held a grudge.

Because of these pricks.

Lewis had confirmed to me what Teagan had tried to make me believe.

She'd been set up.

We both had.

They had organized for Liam to come to our fucking room.

Beau and Quincy, I didn't give two fucks about. I didn't trust them and I cared about them even less, but Tommy?

Fuck, that hurt like nothing else.

My
best friend
.

My
only
fucking friend for a long assed time had betrayed me like that?

I was reeling, barely holding onto my temper.

I owed Teagan an apology for all the shitty jibes I'd thrown her way since we'd started the tour.

Hell, I owed her a hell of lot more than that.

Every drunk person I bumped into in my bid to find my so-called team and every congratulatory message I heard only caused the anger to rise inside of me. My gaze flickered over the crowd surrounding us as I searched for the sorry ass fucks that called themselves my team.

Yeah, not anymore.

"Noah!" Lucky called out from my left and I turned to see him pointing in the direction of the far corner of the room.

I turned and marched in the direction Lucky was pointing. I could barely stop myself my breaking into a run.

I hadn't felt anger like this in a very long time.

Lewis came up beside me and placed a hand on my arm. "Would you like me to take her outside?"

Until that moment, I'd forgotten Teagan's hand was still in mine and I'd been dragging her along like a fucking rag doll.

Jesus Christ, she was pregnant…

Turning around, I glared at Lewis. "I'd have liked if you'd told me the goddamn truth!" I roared. "No, I don't want you near my wife. Fuck!"

Nodding stiffly, Lewis took a sensible step back, cheeks stained red.

Good.

He should be embarrassed.

I was fucking embarrassed.

I was disgusted with myself.

All this had been going on under my goddamn roof and I hadn't known.

I'd sat back and watched Teagan getting bullied in high school.

I sure as hell wasn't going to watch it happen again…

Barreling through the crowd, my eyes honed in on the three men in the corner of the room with the partially naked women cozied up with them.

"Nice," Teagan growled in disgust, obviously spotting them, too. "Real classy."

"Come on, Thorn," I snarled, tucking her into my side. "These bastards owe you an apology."

And by the time I was done with them, they would be groveling at her feet…

"Noah?" Tommy's voice was thick from arousal as he jerked away from the women he'd been sidling up to, sporting a confused look on his face. "Are you alright?" Rushing straight up to me, he placed him hand on my shoulder. "What's happened?"

"What do you think?" I snarled, not bothering to explain myself.

I was done.

I was fucking through with this shit.

Shoving past Tommy, I stalked over to the booth he had vacated, reached across the table, and grabbed Beau by the scruff of his neck.

"Noah," Beau hissed as I dragged him out of the booth. "What the fuck?"

"What the fuck is right, asshole," I roared, shoving him roughly onto the white carpet. "Did you think you were clever?"

"What the hell is this about, boy?" Quincy snarled, jerking to his feet.

My attention turned to Quincy, who was out of the booth and slowly backing away from me.

Smart man.

"I told him," Lewis announced calmly. "About the Harte boy."

"Yeah," I snarled. "Now, all I want to know was which one of you geniuses' idea it was to fuck with my wife?"

"It was mine," Tommy announced and my heart shriveled up win my chest.

"No," Teagan countered coldly. "I heard Beau say…"

"It was
my
idea," Tommy repeated slowly.

"Why?" I whispered. The air felt like it had been sucked out of my lungs. "I
trusted
you." I fucking trusted him more than anyone else. "Why would you do that to me?"

"I did it
for
you," Tommy replied hoarsely. "Noah, you've worked so hard and I've been by your side throughout everything…"

"Which is why I
trusted
you," I hissed, feeling like I'd been stabbed through the back.

Holding my hand up, I forced myself to calm down and breathe, but I couldn’t.

All I could see was my oldest friend and the knife he'd driven into my back.

"I
trusted
you, Tommy."

"She's going to take you down, Noah," Tommy shot back in a passionate tone. His gaze flickered to Teagan and then back to me. "I had to at least try and stop it from happening."

I knew I sounded like a broken record, but I couldn't stop myself from repeating the same three words over and over again. "I trusted
you
."

I'd never had much faith in the human race, my upbringing had only cemented that notion, but I had never tarred Tommy with the brush I used for everyone else.

I had always held him above the others…and he'd proved me
wrong
.

I knew there was a crowd gathering around us, but I didn’t care.

Words I never thought I'd hear myself say fell out of my mouth with a finality that surprised me. "I want you off this tour." Turning my attention to Beau and Quincy, I steadied myself before saying, "I want all of you off this goddamn tour."

"Noah…"

"You're all fired!" I roared. "Don't fucking be here in the morning."

"You can't fire me, boy," Quincy snarled, getting up in my face. "I made you what you are today." Shoving a fat finger into my chest, he hissed, "You'd be a jumped up little prick on parole if it weren't for me."

My lip curled up in disgust. "Is that so?"

"Damn straight," Quincy sneered. "I turned you into an athlete – a star. You ain’t nothing but a jumped up, street-fighting convict without me, boy!"

"Well this jumped up, street-fighting convict is going to take his chances without you," I shot back. "Fuck you, Q."

"Exactly," Teagan growled, jumping to my defense. "Noah has been kicking ass for years –
real
ass, not the kind you have to get cleared to fight!" Narrowing her eyes in anger, she walked straight up to Quincy and poked him in the chest. "You can't claim you made a self-made man."

"What the hell do you know about it, girl?" Quincy snarled.

"Don't speak to her like that," I snarled, furious.

"No," Teagan interrupted, putting a hand on my arm. "It's okay, Noah." She turned to face Quincy once more. "I know a lot more than you've ever given me credit for. And here's another thing I know. I hope you've enjoyed hanging off Noah's coat-tails these past few years, because it ends tonight."

"You can kiss that belt goodbye  in December without me in your corner," Quincy was quick to reply, eyes locked on my face. "Without a team behind you, you don't have a chance in hell…"

"Who says he doesn't have a team behind him?" Lucky drawled. Stepping forward to stand beside me, he tipped his head to one side and smirked. "He's got me."

"And me," Teagan piped up, backing up against my chest.

"A homicidal convict and a deranged woman," Beau, who had come to stand beside Quincy, said. "That's some team." He laughed humorlessly before adding, "You're finished, Messina."

"We'll see," were the last words I heard Quincy say before the sound of a single firework exploding filled me ears.

BANG…

Within seconds, a piercing pain ricocheted through my shoulder – a pain so fierce it took the air clean out of my lungs and my feet from beneath me.

Dropping to my knees, I did the only thing I could think of doing in that moment; I grabbed my wife's arm and dragged her roughly to the floor just as another explosion went off nearby.

BANG…

I couldn’t feel my arms as I shoved Teagan under a cloth-covered table and out of sight.

Hell, I couldn’t feel anything as I scrambled under the table and covered my wife's body with mine, just my own heartbeat hammering in my chest.

I could hear it above all the carnage as it thundered in my ears.

"Your arm," Teagan choked out as she lay on her back, looking up at me with wide, fearful eyes. "Oh my god, Noah, look at your arm. You've been shot!" she cried out. "He shot you, Noah!"

"I'm fine," I whispered. My gaze drifted to my right shoulder to where blood was soaking through my shirt. "It barely nipped me."

"Noah!" Teagan screamed franticly. "You're bleeding out."

"Shh." Clamping my hand over her mouth, I lowered my forehead to hers and exhaled shakily, struggling to rein in my emotions. "Quiet."

Keeping my hand over Teagan's mouth, I turned my head to the side and peeked out from under the full-length tablecloth that was cloaking us from sight.

"You're okay," I whispered over and over again, desperate to comfort her.

Teagan was shaking so badly beneath me that I felt it reverberating through me, but I didn’t dare move my hand.

Keeping her safe was my only priority in this moment.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are,
Messina
!"

I felt Teagan stiffen beneath me as the voice I recognized from the past boomed like a drum from somewhere close by.

"Don’t you know by now that you can't hide from us?" Gerome Javi continued to taunt. "Your pretty little bitch can't hide from us either. We've got a real nice homecoming gift for you, boy."

"He's not here, asshole!" Tommy's voice penetrated my ears and my heart plummeted into my ass. "But the cops are – or at least they're on the way. And you've made it so much easier for them to lock your ass up."

"You'll do just fine, Moyet," I heard Javi sneer and I jumped into action.

"No," Teagan hissed, grabbing the front of my shirt with both hands, pulling me back from the tablecloth I was moving towards.

"Don’t," she mouthed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she clutched my shirt in her fist like it was her last lifeline. Taking my hand, she placed it on her stomach before mouthing the words, "You promised."

People around us were screaming and running for their lives, but I couldn’t move a muscle.

I had been knocked to the floor and was buried beneath an insufferable amount of weight.

Frozen with fear, I remained on my back, barely daring to breathe. Noah had somehow managed to drag us both under a cloth-covered table.

We were out of sight, but he continued to lie on top of me, covering me from view, protecting my body with his.

He had his hand over my mouth and I was glad.

My fear was spiraling out of control and I didn’t trust myself not to scream.

Never in my life had I felt fear like I had when I noticed the red blood spreading across Noah's white shirt.

He looked unfazed.

Adrenaline.

It had to be.

Nobody moved around like he had after getting shot.

"You're okay," he continued to whisper in my ear and I continued to sob against his hand and point to his shoulder in horror.

I closed my eyes and prayed.

Please don’t let us die here…. Lord, please don't let anything happen to my baby…

My eyes sprang open the second I registered what I'd prayed for.

My baby.

Mine.

Suddenly, this overwhelming feeling of possessiveness rolled through my body, bringing with it an indescribable feeling of protectiveness.

It was a feeling I'd never experienced before.

A feeling of unequivocal love and desperation.

I dropped my hand to cover my stomach once more and every nerve in my body came to life inside me. My heart began to drum a battle cry of its own accord.

And just like that, the course of my life took a sudden turn.

Motherhood.

This was my baby.

Noah's flesh and blood growing inside of me.

My heart hammered against my chest as excitement, fear, uncertainty, and unadulterated love washed through me. An almost crazed urge to defend and protect the child inside my womb possessed me. The child that only an hour ago I hadn't known existed, but now couldn’t see a future without...

"I didn’t know you were in there, you little intruder,"
I whispered in my mind.
"But I won't let anything happen to you."

I clenched my eyes shut as an abundance of emotions threatened to spill over.

Please, keep my baby safe…

My heart swelled so big I thought it would burst.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are, Messina!"

Everything inside of my body stopped moving the second that man's voice filled my ears.

My heart.

My muscles.

Everything.

"Don’t you know by now that you can't hide from us? Your pretty little bitch can't hide from us either. We've got a real nice homecoming gift for you."

My eyes were locked on Noah's face as I watched him battle an internal fight with himself.

Whoever this man was, he was baiting him, and Noah was desperately trying not to take it.

"He's not here, asshole, but the cops are, or at least they're on the way, and you've made it so much easier for them to lock your ass up." Tommy's voice filled the room and Noah's body seemed to jump to alert.

"You'll do just fine, Moyet," the man gloated and just like that, I felt my husband's self-control snap. "You can give your comrade a message from me."

Noah lunged for the tablecloth at the same time I lunged for him. 

"No," I begged, voice strangled, as I managed to catch ahold of the front of Noah's shirt and pull his body back down on mine. "Don’t."

I was crying big fat ugly tears.

Fear was imploding inside of me and the thought of Noah going out there was driving me close to hysteria, so I used in that moment the only tool at my disposal.

The child growing inside my womb.

Taking Noah's hand, I placed it on my stomach. "You promised."

I wasn’t sure if I was speaking the words to him or mouthing them, but I had his attention.

Noah was still
here
with me and that was what mattered…

BANG…

The sound of another gunshot going off cut through the air, followed moments later by several police officers shouting, "freeze," and commanding, "Put your hands in the air."

Their threats and orders had come too late, I realized, as my gaze drifted towards the blood-stained carpet and then to the limp frame of a man hunched face down on the floor.

"No!" Noah roared as he scrambled out from under the table. On his knees, he crawled over to where the man was lying on the floor. "No, no, no…. God, T.
No
!"

Climbing out from under the table, I staggered to my feet and made to go after Noah, but a pair of strong arms came around me, holding me back.

"Don’t," Lucky whispered in a tone I found oddly comforting. "Just… stay back. Give him some space, okay?"

"Is he?" I felt my body weaken and sag against Lucky as I watched my husband slam his hands down on Tommy's chest before covering his mouth, franticly trying to resuscitate him.

"Is he…" I couldn't say it, not out loud, not while the maniac who'd caused all of this was still in the room, snickering at my husband's agony.

Guilt rushed through my veins as my eyes confirmed what my mind refused to acknowledge.

"Yeah, Teagan," Lucky whispered. "Tommy's dead."

"And you're next," the man taunted, smiling cruelly at me as the officers led him from the room. "We've got something special in place for you, bitch."

With the threat of a deranged man in my ears and the image of a slain man in my mind, everything became too much.

The fear, the guilt, the throbbing in my head.

"Teagan," Lucky cried out in a frantic tone. "God, Teagan."

Confused and dizzy, I followed Lucky's line of sight to where he was staring.

I was bleeding.

Blood was trickling down my legs, pooling at my feet.

"Why am I bleeding?" I stared at Lucky's face.

The horror in his eyes caused a ripple of fear to run through my body.

Shivering violently, I grasped at my stomach. "Noah," I whispered, staggering forward. "I…" All of it became too much for me then and my legs gave away beneath me moments before I collapsed into a blanket of darkness.